An Inner Journey of Ahimsa — 12 Feb 2022

As the world hinges on the brink of a possible war, with Russia having surrounded Ukraine on three sides, perhaps wishfully, I think of the singing revolution. At the end of the Cold War, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania regained independence from the Soviet Union through non-violent protests, using music as a primary medium — often referred to as the singing revolution.

The singing revolution lasted almost four years, and Estonians particularly, kept responding to Soviet tanks through various protests and acts of defiance, a lot of which involved mass singing. They acted as human shields to protect their media infrastructure and formed massive human chains, with the famous?Baltic Way?comprising two million people, stretching from Estonia through Latvia into Lithuania. Eventually, all the three countries gained independence without bloodshed.

There is the personal practice of ahimsa, and there is our collective work. The brink of war presents us with a collective opportunity. If Covid-19 has taught us anything, it is that nothing is any longer local. A war in Ukraine will have global implications. Peace, and ahimsa, are not spectator sports.

· How do you transmit ahimsa into the world?

· How do we collectively engage to uphold life in our world?

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